Police divers searching the water supply dam at Guyra, on the northern
Tablelands of NSW have found what they describe as a subterranean cavern.
or tunnel, below the water line John McFarlane reports the divers were
called in after suspicions that a meteorite or a piece of space junk had
crashed into the dam.

McFarlane CART:

LATER THIS AFTERNOON, THE POLICE DIVERS FOUND THE CAVERN, INDICATING THAT
AN OBJECT HAD ENTERED THE WATER AND THE FLOOR OF THE DAM AT HIGH SPEED.
THEY SAY IT TRAVELLED THROUGH THE EARTH FOR ABOUT 12 METRES AFTER IMPACT.
NO OBJECT HAS YET BEEN FOUND. THE DIVERS HAVE NOW SUSPENDED THEIR SEARCH
UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING. AND IN OTHER NEWS THIS AFTERNOON, HEATH AUTHORITIES
ANNOUNCED WATER IN THE GUYRA DAM IS NOT CONTAMINATED ........ JOHN
MCFARLANE, TAMWORTH.

DOES GUYRA HAVE A UFO IN IT'S DAM?
Date: Thu 9th Dec 1999

<radio transcript snips>

Melbourne researchers, JOHN AUCHETTL [LtCol] and RON BARNETT [Dr] from
Phenomena Research Australia (PRA) reported on Radio National today.

"We flew up from Melbourne yesterday and have been up at the location for
over 24 hours. We plan to do a 'fly over' to get some vision on the ground
effect. But at present the site is cold and from reports the event has
taken place some time between Monday and midday yesterday.

We went over the impact site in some detail. It is located in the Guyra
water supply dam on the outskirts of the town, north of Armidale (NSW
Australia). We arrived at the location very early on the 8th [Dec] and
checked out the location with a number of research tools. The radiation
level at the site was at normal back ground level. That night, an IR camera
was used to look for hot spots, none were located. Samples has been taken
and will be looked at.

We did find the site interesting. Normally, we would not travel to such
sites, but the information sent to us from DoD warranted a look. So yes,
the impact has some strange aspects to it that need to be looked at. For
example:

· Angle of entry to the dam was very shallow less than 45 degrees.
· For such an impact to occur in a population of about 2000 no one recalls a sound of a sonic booms or explosion.
· The surface has burn marks; this is very unusual for a meteorite impact.
· I had a good look at the reeds on the bank. They are down in a
strange shape not quite like an explosion but have the characteristics of a
compression wave.
· The mud splash is also interesting as it lets us know how much energy was in the impact but the sting in the tail, with this impact, is on
the other side [bank], the object may have skipped on the water.
· There was no witness to the impact.

After our examination, I cannot rule out an explosive device, or some
elaborate hoax. Viewing the site makes me feel confident that it's not man
made. We need to get the samples looked at and someone needs to go down
into the mud and water and have a look. My first hypothesis is that it a
meteorite. But that just conjecture.

We felt that the area should be shut down until the police cleared it, and
they have done that at last. The media - radio and TV - have taken to this
story with some vigour and it's turned into a bit of a "zoo". Some of the
stories are starting to develop and the precision will soon be lost. One,
media reporter wanted me to run the alien story line. I can tell you right
now there is no report of 'little green men'; in fact, there is not report
of the event from any locals, around the area at present.

The alleged object was not seen entering the dam and while the subject is
'press hot' and everyone is running around the area, little can be done. I
can say until further evidence is presented the matter remains unresolved
and at the moment a police and EPA problem. With time we will follow up any
data that may end the mystery."

"UFO Dam Mystery"
Date: Published: Thursday December 9 7:43:01 AM

Guyra, a township in northern New South Wales has had its water supply cut
off after an unidentified object crashed into the local dam. Plans are now
in place to truck water in from Armidale and Glen Innes.

Some time between Monday and midday yesterday the projectile slammed into
the Guyra water supply dam on the outskirts of the town, north of Armidale.
Police said it was first noticed by a local council employee carrying out
routine maintenance work.

Fire brigade spokesman John Hobar said an area of reed beds measuring four
metres by 10 metres had been flattened, fuelling suspicion that the object
may have fallen from the sky. But he said he had checked with a number of
space agencies, meterological experts and authorities in Canberra and there
had been no sightings of an unidentified object falling from the sky.

Hobar said the brigade's hazardous material unit went to the scene and
tested the water for toxins and radioactive material, but the results were
clear. "We're not prepared to declare the water safe until we actually site
the object. We're not prepared to take any risks."

Water supply would only be restored when authorities could guarantee its
safety, he said. The local council has isolated water supply to the town by
switching off pumps and treatment works. Hobar said crews were unable to
identify the object last night because it had become embedded in the dam
and the water was muddy. Divers will be brought in this morning to try to
make a positive identification.

Police divers will attempt to find an unknown object which crashed into the
water supply dam at Guyra on the northern tablelands of New South Wales.
Officers say they hope to have the results of tests being done on samples
taken from the dam by mid afternoon, to allow the lifting of severe water
restrictions. Eamonn Fitzpatrick from police media says divers will be sent
in later this afternoon to try to find the object, which has flattened reed
beds and thrown up mud in a line, 15 metres long and six metres wide. He
says the impact site has already revealed what is not likely to have caused
the impact "The reeds have only been flattened, not broken, that suggests
to us that the object is smaller than the size of the impact area," he
said. "We have been making checks with authorities in Australia and world
wide and that's revealed that this object is not part of a man made
satellite orbiting the Earth, and doesn't appear to be part of an aircraft
or anything like that."

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Is it a UFO, space junk, a meteorite or simply frozen
sewage? Whatever it turns out to be a mysterious flying object has landed
in an Australian country dam, leaving a large crater, and sunk beneath the
mud. Air tests around the dam found no radioactivity, but water supplies
from the dam to the nearby town of Guyra have been cut.

Police have also erected a one-mile no go zone around the dam, as curious
locals and scores of media descend on the sleepy town of Guyra, 250 miles
north of Sydney.

"At this stage we don't really know what the object is," said a police
spokesman at Guyra. "It has made a significant depression in the floor of
the dam."

The mysterious object, which landed sometime between Monday and Wednesday,
has left a 50-foot-long and 20-foot wide crater. The object appears to have
hit the dam at about 45 degrees and skidded before sinking.

Theories of what the object is ranged from a meteorite to frozen sewage
jettisoned from an aircraft. But most ruled out a UFO or space junk.

AAP - A township in northern New South Wales is facing severe water
restrictions after an unidentified object crashed into the local dam. Some
time between Monday and midday yesterday the projectile slammed into the
Guyra water supply dam on the outskirts of the town, north of Armidale.

Police said it was first noticed by a local council employee carrying out
routine maintenance work. Fire brigade spokesman John Hobar said an area of
reed beds measuring four metres by 10 metres had been flattened, fuelling
suspicion that the object may have fallen from the sky. But he said he had
checked with a number of space agencies, meteorological experts and
authorities in Canberra and there had been no sightings of an unidentified
object falling from the sky. Mr Hobar said the brigade's hazardous material
unit went to the scene and tested the water for toxins and radioactive
material, but the results were clear. "There's a township of about 5000
people and they're on severe water restrictions now," Mr Hobar told AAP.
"We're not prepared to declare the water safe until we actually site the
object. We're not prepared to take any risks." The local council has
isolated water supply to the town by switching off pumps and treatment
works. Mr Hobar said crews were unable to identify the object last night
because it had become embedded in the dam and the water was muddy. Divers
will be brought in this morning to try to make a positive identification.

Testing will continue today on the water supply dam at Guyra in northern
New South Wales after an unidentified object crashed into it.

Emergency services have quarantined the dam and severely restricted the use
of water until they know what the object is, and whether it has left any
dangerous residue.

The object gouged a path 15 metres long and six metres wide in reed beds
and mud at the dam sparking a full emergency response.

The fire brigade and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) say initial
testing has determined the object is benign, but want to carry out further
testing today before giving the town water supply the all clear.

Divers are to be sent down later this morning to physically examine the
object and until then no-one is prepared to speculate what it might be.

A police guard was put at the scene overnight and the media were directed
to leave the area by hazardous materials officers from the fire brigade.

The dam itself was not damaged and there have been no reports of casualties.

Police divers searching the water supply dam at Guyra, on the New South
Wales northern tablelands, have found what they describe as a subterranean
cavern, or tunnel, below the water line.

The divers were called in after suspicions that a meteorite or a piece of
space junk had crashed into the dam. Late this afternoon, the police divers
found the cavern, indicating that an object had entered the water and the
floor of the dam at high speed.

They say it travelled through the earth for about 12 metres after impact.
No object has yet been found. The divers have now suspended their search
until tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, this afternoon health authorities announced water in the Guyra
dam is not contaminated. Reeds near the water's edge were flattened and
large areas of mud disturbed when something crashed into the water.

But no-one knows exactly what it could have been.

The truth is out there . . . in down-to-earth Guyra
By STEPHEN BROOK and GEORGINA SAFE
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999

THE northern NSW town of Guyra - population 2020, elevation 1300m - was
inundated with visitors and abounded with theories about little green men
yesterday after an object was discovered to have fallen to Earth and into
the local dam.

But locals were unlikely to take a shine to any possible newcomers even if
they had travelled from as far as outer space. "They say you have got to be
here 40 years before you are considered a local," said June Ridley, whose
home is closest to the crash site and whose property Glenhaven borders the
dam.

The crash site was a circular scar three metres in diameter where reeds had
been sheared clean off on the western side of the dam, nestled in
picturesque hills 15 minutes from town.

"She's come in from the east," duty officer Stuart Bartholomew said of the
object.

The Australian Defence Force was called in, roadblocks were erected, divers
with metal detectors arrived from Sydney, the water supply was shut down
and an emergency meeting of State Emergency Services, ADF and NSW Fire
Brigade personnel was held at the site.

"We have never had so much traffic on this road," Ms Ridley said. "There's
that much in space now that it could be anything."

This morning the reeds will be dug out using an excavator, allowing police
divers to search for the object possibly buried in a tunnel 1.5 metres
beneath the mud.

Geologists have determined the object is most likely a cricket ball-sized
meteorite - rejecting other theories that it could be a piece of space
junk, a fallen object from a plane, a hoax designed to increase local
tourism, even the famed Guyra Ghost or a spaceship.

Local radio was full of reports of an incredibly bright meteorite blazing
north-west across the sky at 8.30pm on Monday.

Filtration plant manager Peter Starr said he almost fell into the hole when
he discovered it at lunchtime on Wednesday while carrying out routine
maintenance work.

"I'll be the last one to find out what it is," Mr Starr said yesterday of
an X-files-style operation mounted by police and local authorities.

ADF checks revealed the object was not part of a man-made satellite
orbiting the Earth and there have been several reports of meteorite
activity in the area over the past few days.

John Goulding, 73, of Ballina, reported a low flying "meteor or whatever it
was" travelling north above Guyra at 8.36pm on Tuesday to the Coffs Harbour
office of the NSW bureau of meteorology. "I thought it's not going to go
very far before that thing hits the ground," he said. Four separate
meteorite sightings were reported to Guyra Shire Council from Monday to
Wednesday, a council spokesman said.

The water was turned back on about 4pm yesterday after tests by the NSW
Health Department and Environment Protection Authority yesterday
established the dam was free from toxins.

But a "mystery object from space" which landed in the Guyra dam has left
the town agog. Nobody is sure what it is or where it came from, but the
locals certainly believe it to be extraterrestrial.

This morning an excavation team will arrive in the northern NSW town to
unearth whatever it is that has brought the town into national focus.

Authorities are still at a loss to explain the phenomenon after a local
council worker stumbled across a 15m circle of flattened reeds on the banks
of the Guyra Reservoir at 9am on Wednesday, prompting the council to shut
off the town's water and call in everyone from the Environment Protection
Authority to the RAAF.

The decision to retrieve the object was made yesterday when police divers
from Sydney discovered a 20m long tunnel under the impact site on the dam's
edge. The object appears to have come out of the north-east sky at a
trajectory of about 45 degrees sometime between Monday night and Wednesday
morning.

One of the few, but growing number of witnesses to the landing, truck
driver Wayne Peterson, said he saw what appeared to be a falling star about
9pm Monday. "It was blue in colour between the size of a golf ball and a tennis
ball and it came from an easterly direction," Mr Peterson said.

Excitement grew late yesterday when police divers emerged from the mud to
explain they had found a tunnel about 40cm wide extending into the
reservoir.

Two consultant geologists brought in from Armidale - 40km south of Guyra -
believe it could have been a meteorite weighing about 5kg, about the size
of a grapefruit.

Council worker and water engineer Peter Starr, who first alerted
authorities, said at the time he was on a routine check of the dam. "I was
just walking down there and saw this thing and thought obviously something
had lobbed in there and obviously it had come from the sky. I told my
general manager and since then they have kept us away."

Local landowner Dave Bearup said the first the town new of it was late
Wednesday.

Many of the town's 2000 people were at a meeting when sirens were sounded
and police made a public announcement of the discovery.

The RAAF, which has been conducting flight training in the area over the
past week, ruled out the object being a piece of one of its F-111s. Other
theories including the impact being caused by a piece of space junk or
frozen effluent from an airliner, were also ruled out.

Last night the water was given the all-clear, test results indicating there
was no contamination or radioactivity.

Unexplained happenings are nothing new to Guyra. Two F-111s have crashed
there in the past 15 years and there is a legend of the Guyra Ghost, blamed
for inexplicable occurrences during the 1920s.